Man steals patrol car, kills newlywed, police say

Oct. 4, 2012 11:36 AMAssociated Press

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- A man who was escorted off a commuter bus after refusing to pay the fare stole a police officer's cruiser and raced away before slamming into two vehicles, killing a newlywed, authorities said.

Police said Maxsimillion Quarles-Gaston, 41, of Belleville, died Wednesday at the scene of the wreck. The suspect and an occupant of another vehicle were treated at a St. Louis hospital.

Authorities were pursuing charges Thursday against the suspect, who they say was traveling at more than 100 mph when he plowed into the two vehicles. Quarles-Gaston's car was pushed into a utility pole, police said.

"She had no chance," Illinois State Police Lt. Dave Wasmuth said of Quarles-Gaston, who has two surviving sons and was headed to work as a therapist with the Department of Veterans Affairs' housing program in East St. Louis. "That's one of the worst crashes I've ever seen."

East St. Louis Assistant Police Chief Ronald Ike said officers were called shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday to escort a man off a commuter bus because he refused to pay the fare. Ike said an officer was letting him go when the man suddenly hopped into the officer's car and raced away.

"One officer turned his back like he was about to get something off the bus. The dude broke and hopped in the car and took off," Mike Stevens, a witness, told the Belleville News-Democrat. He also said the police cruiser that had been parked running with its lights on.

Police said there was no pursuit at the time of the crash.

Relatives said Quarles-Gaston had turned her life around since being a pregnant dropout in her early teens -- she was pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology.

Quarles-Gaston's third son was 17 when he died of an aneurysm in 1986 while playing a basketball game. After that tragedy, she started a ministry group -- mostly her family and friends -- that helped support families who lost a child by providing meals or money to pay for burial clothing, said her sister, Merinda Quarles-Watson.

"She's a fantastic person, a beautiful spirit, always had others' best interests in mind," her husband, Vince Gaston, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Wednesday. "She was a person who loved her life."